P6M gathers dust at govt agency

Instructional, educational and communication (IEC) materials of the National Nutrition Council (NNC) worth P4.12 million remained undistributed since 2008, rendering the materials useless, state auditors bared.

The materials are gathering dust inside a warehouse, and the council had to pay P1.88 million for storage.

The Commission on Audit revealed in their audit report that as of April 2013 the NNC kept in a warehouse near their building the materials that include modules and manuals to promote good nutrition.

Auditors said that from 2008 to 2011, the total amount of undistributed IECs already amounted to P3.66 million.

In an ocular inspection to check if the agency implemented their audit recommendation, auditor found that P459,492.61 worth of materials were piled atop the previous undistributed IECs, resulting in an aggregate amount of P4.12 million.

“The undistributed IEC materials were already excesses of the actual needs which indicated that there were lapses in the assessment of the quantity requirement, thus, were left unused,” the report read.

On top of this, the NNC incurred a total of P1.88 million for the rent of the warehouse.

“The existence of undistributed IEC for over one to four years clearly showed wastage of government resources as these materials were not used nor utilized for the intended purposes,” auditors raised.

The council said that they stopped the distribution of some materials as they bear the image of former President and now Rep. Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga. Distributing those would be politically inappropriate, the council said.

With already increasing number of untouched supplies, still the NNC “continued to print” 389 materials for Pabasa Kit worth half a million pesos for 2011 and 2012.

“This signifies that the management has totally disregarded the undistributed materials [in 2011]amounting to P534,000 stacked in the warehouse, as this was not considered in the assessment of the quantities to be printed in 2012,” the auditors opined.

The council said that the inventory of IEC materials on hand was done in March 2013 in preparation for distribution.